Steve Blank

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Companies are great at improving their existing business model and value propositions, but fall short when it comes to inventing entirely new business models, value propositions, and growth engines. Bad Habit #3: Insisting on untested and detailed business plans. Don’t ask innovators for business plans.

Non-Compete 329

Non-Compete Agile Business Model San Francisco 329

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

Yet startup companies have traditionally used this model to manage and pace not only engineering but also non-engineering activities. In the next few posts that follow, I’ll describe more specifically how this model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. release of the product.

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

A month or two before the QuickTime public announcement in May, the SuperMac hardware engineers (who had a great relationship with the QuickTime team at Apple) started a “ skunk works ” project. So SuperMac engineering also developed video compression software, called Cinepak. The software was idiot proof.

Video 164

Video Silicon Valley RSS California 164

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

00:00:06] DEREK: Tell us about growing up in Northern California, tell us about what your dad did, what your mom did, and your family a little bit. [00:00:52] I grew up in Northern California. My father was a doctor, a pediatrician with zero interest or knowledge in business at all. Engineering vs. non-engineering. [00:10:32]

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder San Diego Startup 337

Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

And I understood engineering since I interacted with them almost daily. And finally, I had a great working relationship with our engineers who designed the chips. I found that having a senior marketer responsible for business strategy surrounded by ex-engineers and domain experts makes one heck of a powerful marketing department.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review California 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Companies are great at improving their existing business model and value propositions, but fall short when it comes to inventing entirely new business models, value propositions, and growth engines. Bad Habit #3: Insisting on untested and detailed business plans. Don’t ask innovators for business plans.

Non-Compete 120

Non-Compete Agile Business Model San Francisco 120

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

Originally from California, she now lives in Paris, where her involvement in the vibrant startup scene keeps her from spending too much time in the bakeries. There's a thriving geek culture in Paris, and no lack of software development expertise, thanks to superior universities that produce superior engineers.

France 163

France Technical Review Incubator Early Stage 163

Steve Blank

MARCH 7, 2012

Today, the first half of the Stanford Engineering Lean LaunchPad Class gave their final presentations. The goal is for them is to observe this class, then host and teach the next round of 50 NSF Innovation Corps scientist/engineer teams in July. Only in California! Here are the first five. It Feels Like 20 Years Ago Today.

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Lean Business Model Agile United States 256

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

If they invested in a competitor, there’s a chance that you’re business plan will end up on the competitor’s lap. Business Plan. That said, it is important to talk to customers before you spend 6 months writing a plan. Mrinal Desai , founder of CrossLoop, recently shared the same advice on PeHub.

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Elevator Pitch Incubator Technical Review Startup 102

Up and Running

MARCH 7, 2013

They’re artists, designers, engineers, crafters, coders, and – oh yeah – high schoolers. Small Business Development Centers ( SBDC s) across the U.S. California’s YEP ) that you can support. They eat multi-tasking for breakfast and treat every day like Earth Day. That’s right, teenagers.

Philadelphia 118

Philadelphia Coder Entrepreneur Small Business Administration 118

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

The Lack of Meaningful Milestones for Sales, Marketing and Business Development The one great thing about the product development methodology is that it provides an unambiguous structure with clearly defined milestones. The meaning of alpha test , beta test, and first customer ship are pretty obvious to most engineers.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 215

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2011

On the way to the WorldAg Expo their Carrotbot (their research platform they built to gather data for machine vision/machine learning) hit the farm fields near Avenal , California. In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma it was the city engineer and director of public works. The videos of the robot in the field were priceless.

Revenue 213

Revenue West Virginia Oklahoma Oklahoma City 213

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Concept and Seed Stage In the Concept and Seed Stage, founders capture their passion and vision for the new company and turn them into a set of key ideas, which quickly becomes a business plan, sometimes on the back of the proverbial napkin. With that information in hand, Engineering estimates delivery dates and development costs.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

crowdSPRING Blog

MARCH 26, 2019

And, once you’ve decided which overall business structure is the right fit for you, it’s time to get more specific. We recommend that you write a business plan. This should outline your goals and how you plan to achieve them. Click here to see their complete guide to writing a business plan.

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Small Business Administration Distribution LLC Small Business 94

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

The elements of the decision making process are 1) Idea; 2) Business Plan Preparation; 3) Domain Expertise; 4) Commitment and Risk; 5) Responsibilities. Business Plan 2 3 6 8 16. Lead Engineer 0.5 - 1. 5+ years Experience Engineer 0.33 - 0.66. Manager or Junior Engineer 0.2 - 0.33. Idea 7 10 70 3 21.

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Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

Seeing Both Sides

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

The plethora of mentorship opportunities for entrepreneurs is mind-boggling — programs like TechStars and Mass Challenge , not to mention myriad business-plan contests. Our companies desperately need more lab technicians, search engine marketers, online advertising salespeople, and software developers.

Massachusetts 33

Massachusetts Silicon Valley Washington Boston 33

Steve Blank

MAY 3, 2011

Davis , a German applied Laser research group, a California organic farm er who wanted to be an Earlyvangelist , four service partners and three weed/pest management consultants. This week they broadened the discussion with interviews with the city planner in Mariposa, Texas and the city engineer from Rapid City, South Dakota.

South Dakota 217

South Dakota Business Model Lean United States 217

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 22, 2009

If I had had actually been asking “Were we solving a problem these scientists and engineers felt they had?” What did the company do when we heard customer input that contradicted our business plan and assumptions? Context here.) The company failed. I would have gotten a half-hearted “maybe.” More in the next post.

Silicon Valley 172

Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 172

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

Customer Development by Vertical - Click to Enlarge (As a reminder, the Customer Development process says your business plan is just a series of untested hypothesis (unless you’re a domain expert.) Some of these are questions that would be addressed in a business plan. Others you need to know when you execute the plan.

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Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Communication between scientists, engineers and corporations were relatively open, and ideas flowed freely. At Stanford, Dean of Engineering Fred Terman wanted companies outside of the university to take Stanford’s prototype microwave tubes and electronic intelligence systems and build production volumes for the military.

Silicon Valley 159

Silicon Valley Securities and Exchange Commission Venture Capital RSS 159

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Firebase : Are all your developers front-end engineers? Google Custom Search Engine. Google App Engine. Search Engine Optimization Tools. Google App Engine â?? hire low-cost international engineering talent. outsourcing for small business. Check them out. No need for back end! Very responsive.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Steve Blank

APRIL 29, 2009

As a founder you need to prepare yourself to think creatively and independently, because more often than not, conditions on the ground will change so rapidly that the original well-thought-out business plan becomes irrelevant. I am also a pilot, and computer engineer, and love to read stories about sigint and black aircraft programs.

Silicon Valley 170

Silicon Valley Iraq RSS Vietnam 170

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

Reply You don’t need a business plan yet: 7 ideas for Customer Development « Information Maven: Greg Meyer , on May 22, 2011 at 7:37 am said: [.] further along in the information you’ll need to build your business plan. Steve Blank lists some great tools for startups that will help you in this [.]

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 28, 2008

This represents an outstanding 2,298% growth vs. 2006 (this type of growth seems big but you get used to it when reading business plans is you day job). " Become.com is a search engine designed to help consumers searching for products on the web. California Avenue, Suite 110 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 T: 408-215-4627 ext.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Los Angeles Europe 48

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2015

Errol Arkilic was the lead program director for the National Science Foundation I-Corps , which uses my Lean LaunchPad curriculum to teach scientists and engineers how to take their technology out of the lab and into the marketplace. That’s what scientists and engineers needed to embrace. Errol : And we did. What made him call Steve?

Government 120

Government Channel Southern California Lean 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 3, 2009

For example, in the semiconductor business engineers spend enormous time, money and effort on simulation , the process of actually building the chip in software and running tests to see how well it will perform – well before they ever get to first silicon.

Vertical 128

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing RSS 128

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Similarly, the bulk of the companies getting funding are still California-based. After Northern California and Southern California the biggest area of investment geographically was in international companies. The businesses, it seems, vastly over-estimate their ability to raise funds. Facebook is another example.

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

Growthink Blog

APRIL 27, 2010

The backdrop again: In 1998 when Larry Page's and Sergey Brin's Google offices were a Menlo Park, California garage - Bezos invested $250,000 of personal funds into the fledgling search engine. In Bezos' words, "There was no business plan. When Google went public in 2004, that $250,000 investment translated into 3.3

IPO 59

IPO Stock California Engineer 59

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 22, 2017

When my father had his business plan all set up, he brought it to the rabbi and got a benediction for a successful business. When he left the neighborhood, he decided that because he got a benediction from the rabbi in Crown Heights, he’d name his business (CrownTV’s parent company) Crown Heights.

Naming 48

Naming Entrepreneur LLC Software Review 48

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Business, Engineering, Computer Science, and Design were all represented. If you are interested in sponsoring the course, would love to hear from you as being part of a state institution in California provides its own special challenges. Collaboration with engineering, computer science, life sciences, etc. Steve Bennet.

San Jose 43

San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43

Growthink Blog

APRIL 25, 2010

The backdrop again: In 1998 when Larry Page’s and Sergey Brin’s Google offices were a Menlo Park, California garage - Bezos invested $250,000 of personal funds into the fledgling search engine. In Bezos' words, “…There was no business plan…They had a vision. million shares of Google stock. So was it luck? Or foresight?

IPO 48

IPO Stock Affiliate California 48

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

You make elaborate plans for a product, hire a team of engineers to develop it (people who do this tend to use the term "engineer" for hackers), and then find after a year that youve spent two milliondollars to develop something no one wants. The other approach is what I call the "Hail Mary" strategy. Well, it doesnt.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Who better to answer than the company's engineering lead. No Business Plan Survives First Contact With A Customer – The 5.2 New York, California different toilet, same s#@t. Online Video on Lies About Business Planning - Up and Running , November 19, 2010 Business plans are a waste of time?

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

market-by-numbers.com

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Presuming for a moment that all of these businesses want to make some amount of money, looking at the company’s strategic driving force can perhaps help focus the best product perspective for that particular business. ralxz's Blogs said: Your Business “Driving Force” [link] [.]

San Diego 40

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Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

The original Apple engineering team had no idea the iPhone would lead to the iPod which would lead to the iPad which will lead to iTV. There may be a real estate certification class in Florida or a computer programming convention in California. You may find that Harry’s tricks-of-the trade are only the the tip of the iceberg.

Retention 64

Retention Acquisition Programming Florida 64

Scalable Startup

MAY 16, 2015

They are well educated, well paid, well connected, and often regarded by locals as the vanguard of an invading army (“local” being a relative term when only 37 percent of San Francisco residents were even born in California, according to the 2010 census). California alone lost a million jobs.

San Francisco 20

San Francisco Silicon Valley California Oakland 20

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 13, 2015

Peter: A lot of times, that’s really much more of a business goal. This is really where this whole exercise boils down to more of a business plan component, rather than a fun thought exercise. ” Not everybody is Silicon Valley in California making millions of dollars. This has been fun, right? Jonathan: Yeah.

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Marketing United States Employee District of Columbia 60